Develop Bugs

[Q] EFS Backup

I have been trying to backup efs data prior to flashing away merrily.
I believe this important given the various reports of glitches.
I tried the guidelines here---
and had the following error---
busybox tar zcvf /sdcard/efs-backup.tar.gz /efs
busybox tar zcvf /sdcard/efs-backup.tar.gz /efs
tar: invalid option -- z
However when I removed the 'z' from 'zcvf' I had a verbose output of 37 files and an efs-backup.tar file.
Would this be the correct efs tarball?
The code --busybox cat /dev/block/stl3 > /sdcard/efs_dev-block-stl3.img
seemed to work correctly generating a disc image file.

I know less than you do about this, but couldn't you just go into your root with an application like root explorer and just back up the efs that way?
-Hercules composed this post and threw it at your face to be read-

does anyone have an efs backup they can share?
something went wrong with mine and i no longer have a lock screen and everytime i reboot, bluetooth is turned on and the screen is set to never shut off.

i just use root expolorer and find the efs file and copy it and paste it in ext sd and then transfer to pc for safe keeping, thats how it works for me.

movieaddict said:
i just use root expolorer and find the efs file and copy it and paste it in ext sd and then transfer to pc for safe keeping, thats how it works for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea I did the same but some how my memory card reformatted before I could save it on my computer and now I need to restore it and I no longer have one
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA App

Please Help
anyone has their efs backed up that they can share mine got deleted and i don't know how to recreate it

madamada31 said:
anyone has their efs backed up that they can share mine got deleted and i don't know how to recreate it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just download nitrality app and backup efs with that. It's in the tools settings.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk

richardlibeau said:
Just download nitrality app and backup efs with that. It's in the tools settings.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
as i said my efi folder is empty and the phone doesn't show any IMEI.. i tried the backup but it didn't do anything. is there any way to recreate the necessary files in that folder..

[Q] byte 4byte forensic image of Galaxy w

Hi
I have a rooted Galaxy w and I am looking for a non commercial app that can make a byte for byte forensic dd image of the phone.
I want to do this so I can look for detailed SMS messages using winhex.
I wonder if anyone can suggest such an app but I'd prefer one that does not need complicated command line input as this just confuses the heck out of me.
Also, I have seen on various forensic sites reference is made to files named mtd0 through to mtd5 but when if have searched through
My galaxy w, these files are not on it anywhere?
I apologise if you are sick of this kind of question but any guidance or advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

It will take only 5 lines of commands actually, and if you use adb shell instead of Terminal, a very easy copy-and-paste.
Code:
su
targ=/mnt/external_sd
bsiz=$((1024*1024))
blkp=/dev/block/mmcblk0p
dd if=${blkp}17 of=$targ/data.img bs=$bsiz
dd if=${blkp}28 of=$targ/internalsd.img bs=$bsiz
Just modify the "targ=" line to point to your location of external SD (will be 'sdcard' instead of 'external_sd' if you have swapped the SD Cards).
Sent from my GT-I8150 using xda app-developers app

pepoluan said:
It will take only 5 lines of commands actually, and if you use adb shell instead of Terminal, a very easy copy-and-paste.
Code:
su
targ=/mnt/external_sd
bsiz=$((1024*1024))
blkp=/dev/block/mmcblk0p
dd if=${blkp}17 of=$targ/data.img bs=$bsiz
dd if=${blkp}28 of=$targ/internalsd.img bs=$bsiz
Just modify the "targ=" line to point to your location of external SD (will be 'sdcard' instead of 'external_sd' if you have swapped the SD Cards).
Sent from my GT-I8150 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi
Thanks for the reply and the great code which worked perfectly.
Just one question, does this code copy the un allocated spaces (where possible deleted files reside) as well?
Thanks in advance

event2020 said:
Hi
Thanks for the reply and the great code which worked perfectly.
Just one question, does this code copy the un allocated spaces (where possible deleted files reside) as well?
Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, because it reads from the 'raw device', so each and every single byte, be them living in a used sector or a 'free' sector, will be copied. Up to and including the very last byte in the source partition.
Sent from my GT-I8150 using xda app-developers app

pepoluan said:
Yes, because it reads from the 'raw device', so each and every single byte, be them living in a used sector or a 'free' sector, will be copied. Up to and including the very last byte in the source partition.
Sent from my GT-I8150 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you so much.
You have really helped me.

[HOW TO] Create Swap File For Galaxy W

Cheers! This is my first thread. Hopeful i'm not reposting similar thread.
I will tell you how to create swap file for our W. Anyway, swap file works like swap partition. It can help your RAM for improve our W performance.
1. Root your phone
2. Install Superuser
3. Install Busybox
4. Install Terminal Emulator
If you are using CM10 from arco, that's mean you don't need to follow first 4 steps.
5. Open Terminal Emulator
6. Change directory to external sd card (external is recomended, because we won't take some spaces on internal sd card)
Code:
[email protected]:~$ su
[email protected]:~# cd /external_sd
7. Create swap file under external_sd directory. I will create 512MB swap file. If you wanna create other size of swap file, just change value of count. 512 is recomended.
Code:
[email protected]:/external_sd# dd if=/dev/zero of=swapfile bs=1M count=512
8. Set the right permissions (a world-readable swap file is a huge local vulnerability)
Code:
[email protected]:/external_sd# chmod 600 swapfile
9. After creating the correctly-sized file, format it to swap:
Code:
[email protected]:/external_sd# mkswap swapfile
10. Activate the swapfile:
Code:
[email protected]:/external_sd# swapon swapfile
11. Check your swap, whether is work or not.
Code:
[email protected]:/external_sd# free -m
Check your swap, if the value exactly like your value on 7th step, then you did it!
Any question? Just ask here.
You did it? Why U No hit thanks button?

This does not create a partition right? Just a swap file.. Like the paging file in windows?
My only concern is does it really help that much? What I mean is a user noticeable difference. Also would it make the lifespan of the SDcard shorter? Higher the class of the card, the better it is???
I have never done swap on my older phones and I really would like to do it if it makes a whole a lot of difference in terms of usage.
Also can you also let us know how to revert back in case one does not like it? Just delete the file?
Thanks for your answer in advance.

[/QUOTE]
thearif said:
This does not create a partition right? Just a swap file.. Like the paging file in windows?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, it does not.
Yes, somewhat similar.
thearif said:
My only concern is does it really help that much? What I mean is a user noticeable difference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Totally depends on your usage pattern.
thearif said:
Also would it make the lifespan of the SDcard shorter?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, probably. That's why you shouldn't create a swapfile anywhere but the External SD.
thearif said:
Higher the class of the card, the better it is???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course.
thearif said:
Also can you also let us know how to revert back in case one does not like it? Just delete the file?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Reboot, then delete the file.
Sent from my GT-I8150 using xda app-developers app

Boosting Perfomance?

RezaBeye said:
Boosting Perfomance?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Totally depends on your usage pattern.
Sent from my GT-I8150 using xda app-developers app

omegahanggara said:
Cheers! This is my first thread. Hopeful i'm not reposting similar thread.
I will tell you how to create swap file for our W. Anyway, swap file works like swap partition. It can help your RAM for improve our W performance.
1. Root your phone
2. Install Superuser
3. Install Busybox
4. Install Terminal Emulator
If you are using CM10 from arco, that's mean you don't need to follow first 4 steps.
5. Open Terminal Emulator
6. Change directory to external sd card (external is recomended, because we won't take some spaces on internal sd card)
Code:
[email protected]:~$ su
[email protected]:~# cd /external_sd
7. Create swap file under external_sd directory. I will create 512MB swap file. If you wanna create other size of swap file, just change value of count. 512 is recomended.
Code:
[email protected]:/external_sd# dd if=/dev/zero of=swapfile bs=1M count=512
8. Set the right permissions (a world-readable swap file is a huge local vulnerability)
Code:
[email protected]:/external_sd# chmod 600 swapfile
9. After creating the correctly-sized file, format it to swap:
Code:
[email protected]:/external_sd# mkswap swapfile
10. Activate the swapfile:
Code:
[email protected]:/external_sd# swapon swapfile
11. Check your swap, whether is work or not.
Code:
[email protected]:/external_sd# free -m
Check your swap, if the value exactly like your value on 7th step, then you did it!
Any question? Just ask here.
You did it? Why U No hit thanks button?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good evening,
when i put command "[email protected]:/external_sd# mkswap swapfile" phone give following message:
"image is too small"
can i continue??
Tks in advance

moonwonder said:
Good evening,
when i put command "[email protected]:/external_sd# mkswap swapfile" phone give following message:
"image is too small"
can i continue??
Tks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please post here the result of the 'ls -la' command in the directory where you created your swapfile.
Sent from my GT-I8150 using xda app-developers app

R: [HOW TO] Create Swap File For Galaxy W
in attachment.
tks
Sent from my GT-I8150 using xda app-developers app

R: [HOW TO] Create Swap File For Galaxy W
moonwonder said:
in attachment.
tks
Sent from my GT-I8150 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i'm seeing that file size is 512 byte and not Mbyte...
Sent from my GT-I8150 using xda app-developers app

moonwonder said:
in attachment.
tks
Sent from my GT-I8150 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you installed the latest Busybox by Stericson?

R: [HOW TO] Create Swap File For Galaxy W
resolved:
changing count number on 'dd' function. (from 512 to 536870919)
i suppose that my busybox don't support byte size (bs=1M)
tks.
Sent from my GT-I8150 using xda app-developers app

moonwonder said:
resolved:
changing count number on 'dd' function. (from 512 to 536870919)
i suppose that my busybox don't support byte size (bs=1M)
tks.
Sent from my GT-I8150 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should instead try changing bs=1M to bs=$((1024*1024))
Reason: Flash memory works in blocks. bs is the amount of data being written at a time. If you write 1 byte at a time, you're writing thousands of times to the same block, which not only makes the process slower, but also shorten the life of your Flash memory (because, appending 1 byte requires a cycle of: read the whole block, add one byte, write back the whole block).
The largest Flash memory block size I can ascertain from specs on the Internet is 128 KiB. Thus, bs=$((1024*1024)) would be suitable (1 MiB is an integer multiple of 128 KiB).
If your dd doesn't support the bs parameter at all, you really should replace it with one that does.
Sent from my GT-I8150 using xda app-developers app

R: [HOW TO] Create Swap File For Galaxy W
thanks!!!
now i understand reason that the time for swap creation was about 3 hours...ahahaha
in attachment my new swap!
Sent from my GT-I8150 using xda app-developers app

moonwonder said:
thanks!!!
now i understand reason that the time for swap creation was about 3 hours...ahahaha
in attachment my new swap!
Sent from my GT-I8150 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL... with bs=$((1024*1024)), I took only about 1.5 minutes:
Code:
[email protected]:/ $ cd sdcard
ro of=tes.fil bs=$((1024*1024)) count=512 <
512+0 records in
512+0 records out
536870912 bytes transferred in 86.185 secs (6229284 bytes/sec)
[email protected]:/sdcard $
Sent from my GT-I8150 using xda app-developers app

I followed a thread to make an ext2 partition (about 1 GB, unfortunately couldn't make it divisible by 256)
then read this thread and another one so i created a swapfile in that partition ( data/sdext2/ ) . now i have a couple of question about the swapfile
1.is that line important & why ??
omegahanggara said:
8. Set the right permissions (a world-readable swap file is a huge local vulnerability)
Code:
[email protected]:/external_sd# chmod 600 swapfile
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it's not present in pepoluan's code
pepoluan said:
To create a swap RAM:
Code:
su
targ=/mnt/sdcard/.swapfile
dd if=/dev/zero of=$targ bs=$((1024*1024)) count=64
mkswap $targ
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2. for heavy games, which is more recommended : 256 or 128 MB swapfile, pep said 64 which will b a bummer for me
pepoluan said:
I have experimented *a lot* with swap memory, and I can tell you with absolute confidence:
Swap files larger than 64 MiB *will* result in additional lags. Larger than 128 MiB, your phone will be very slow.
To activate, you don't need to reboot.
Go to the Terminal and enter the command:
cd /mnt/sdcard
ls .*
(replace "sdcard" with the actual location of where you created the swap file, of course)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
one last thing : is the ls.* code different from the swapon code or they r the same ??

I made an sh file for this and placed it in init.d coz i want it to automatically run when the system boots. However it didn't work.
So for now i just placed it in /system/bin so that i only need to type enable_swap in the terminal.
Any way to make it work in init.d?

Any Answer ???

klacenas said:
I made an sh file for this and placed it in init.d coz i want it to automatically run when the system boots. However it didn't work.
So for now i just placed it in /system/bin so that i only need to type enable_swap in the terminal.
Any way to make it work in init.d?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I assume you put the swap file in /sdcard ?
The first partition of the SD Card does not get mounted until all scripts in init.d have finished. I'm experimenting with Stericson's new BusyBox, which includes the 'nohup' command.
Sent from my GT-I8150 using xda app-developers app

pepoluan said:
I assume you put the swap file in /sdcard ?
The first partition of the SD Card does not get mounted until all scripts in init.d have finished. I'm experimenting with Stericson's new BusyBox, which includes the 'nohup' command.
Sent from my GT-I8150 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I put it in sdcard. Thanks for the explanation. Please share if you succeed.
Edit: if its not possible through init.d, is there another way of automatically executing a script after init.d?
Sorry not really a Linux person, I'm more familiar with autoexec.bat
Sent from my GT-I8150 using xda app-developers app

klacenas said:
Yes I put it in sdcard. Thanks for the explanation. Please share if you succeed.
Edit: if its not possible through init.d, is there another way of automatically executing a script after init.d?
Sorry not really a Linux person, I'm more familiar with autoexec.bat
Sent from my GT-I8150 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Install SManager, add the script as a boot script. Boot scripts run using SManager always run after SD Card mounts.
Sent from my GT-I8150 using xda app-developers app

EFS Partition Backup and More [All G2 Variants]

LG G2 EFS Backup Zip
Background
The G2 has no built in EFS backup partitions. EFS contains things like your MEID or IMEI... your data profiles.. radio settings. The EFS cannot be replaced... it is unique to your phone only... backing up your OWN EFS is highly recommended.
I have added EFS backup to the IOroot scripts so that everyone that roots will have a copy of their EFS partitions on the computer you run IOroot from. Regardless, this current thread will still be a good "heads up" and an alternative for those who insist on using other shady root methods or for those who just want another way to back things up. ​Backing up EFS
In TWRP, flash the LG_G2_Backup_EFS.zip attached in this thread. LG_G2_Backup_EFS.zip creates a flashable zip backup of your EFS in /sdcard/EFS_Backup/. Please check to make sure the backup zip worked and actually made a .zip file. Any issues please list what recovery and version you are using and please post the recovery.log.
Backup your efsbackupflashable.zip somewhere else besides your internal SD!!! Email.. cloud.. PC..
Restoring EFS
To restore your original EFS just boot into recovery and flash the efsbackupflashable.zip in your /sdcard/EFS_Backup folder.
If flashable zip wasn't created or to manually restore efs img files run the following commands using adb shell while in recovery:
dd if=/sdcard/EFS_Backup/efs1.img of=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/modemst1
dd if=/sdcard/EFS_Backup/efs2.img of=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/modemst2
​
Backup ALL Partitions
Well almost all... I am attaching another zip which backs up most of your phones partitions.. excluding system/data/cache and some other useless partitions. Backing up all partitions isn't as important as backing up the EFS but it can't hurt. Never know when you may need it.. especially those who like to poke around with their phone and try new things.
Run the zip in recovery.. it will make backup .img files on your internal sdcard in a new folder named "backupz"... remember to copy your backups off the internal sdcard.​

Wow nice find and quick work! I wonder what the chances are of messing you current info up, so your backup would actually be necessary?

drkow19 said:
Wow nice find and quick work! I wonder what the chances are of messing you current info up, so your backup would actually be necessary?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Even if the chances are really small, it is always nice to have a backup.
Having to restore with QPST or other similar methods is not fun at all.

Thanks autoprime.
this was pretty fast considering i just saw you post this in irc

I'm on Verizon. It did make a folder but it was empty. No zip inside. Checked with es file explorer

bckrupps said:
I'm on Verizon. It did make a folder but it was empty. No zip inside. Checked with es file explorer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same situation here.

bckrupps said:
I'm on Verizon. It did make a folder but it was empty. No zip inside. Checked with es file explorer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
jasonsf said:
Same situation here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hmm k... this happened on the LG OG as well... then some people had it working on CWM.. some people had to flash an AOSP rom first.. seems random. If someone can provide me the recovery.log after flashing the efs zip that would help. I'm going to bet its an issue with 7z packing the zip the new flashable zip for some reason or another.
i uploaded a new zip which will still try to make the flashable zip.. while also backing up the individual efs partitions.
redownload the new zip to backup efs img files.
To manually restore efs img files run the following commands using adb shell while in recovery:
dd if=/sdcard/EFS_Backup/efs1.img of=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/modem_st1
dd if=/sdcard/EFS_Backup/efs2.img of=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/modem_st2

autoprime said:
hmm k... this happened on the LG OG as well... then some people had it working on CWM.. some people had to flash an AOSP rom first.. seems random. If someone can provide me the recovery.log after flashing the efs zip that would help. I'm going to bet its an issue with 7z packing the zip the new flashable zip for some reason or another.
i uploaded a new zip which will still try to make the flashable zip.. while also backing up the individual efs partitions.
redownload the new zip to backup efs img files.
To manually restore efs img files run the following commands using adb shell while in recovery:
dd if=/sdcard/EFS_Backup/efs1.img of=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/modem_st1
dd if=/sdcard/EFS_Backup/efs2.img of=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/modem_st2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the recovery boot loop issue and was just using your zip to test out ADB Sideload in TWRP. I'll wait until my phone is working before I give your tool another try. Too many variables right now.
Jason

For w/e its worth this is not working on my att g2. There does not appear to be a /tmp folder
also on att the paths should be
/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/modemst1
/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/modemst2
(no "_")

jasonsf said:
Same situation here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same thing happens to me on VZW. Here is the recovery.log
http://pastebin.com/jhyHJ0Yz

jug6ernaut said:
For w/e its worth this is not working on my att g2. There does not appear to be a /tmp folder
also on att the paths should be
/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/modemst1
/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/modemst2
(no "_")
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can confirm this information on my AT&T G2. Maybe the script can be modified as such (unconfirmed):
Code:
# backup partitions
EFS_PREFIX=modem_st # Assume Verizon model (with underscore)
if [ -e /dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/modemst1]; then # Use AT&T model nomenclature
EFS_PREFIX=modemst
fi
/sbin/busybox dd if=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/${EFS_PREFIX}1 of=/tmp/efs1.img;
/sbin/busybox dd if=/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/${EFS_PREFIX}2 of=/tmp/efs2.img;

jug6ernaut said:
For w/e its worth this is not working on my att g2. There does not appear to be a /tmp folder
also on att the paths should be
/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/modemst1
/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/modemst2
(no "_")
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ugh.. sorry about this. I must have been in HTC mode.. they use the "_" derpppp.
updated the zip.. see how that goes.

mine did not create a .zip file. On At&t, but still thanks a ton! will keep these two efs.img's stored on my dropbox so that I always have a backup.
Anyway to make these two into a flashable zip manually? I'm sure the code is in the script somewhere I just don't feel like looking haha

This now works for me autoprime. It created efs1.img, and efs2.img on VZW. Thx!

Got my two image files, both 3mb....thanks! I am on ATT.

im on verizon. works great. kudos

Confirm works on ATT.
Sent from my LG-D800 using Tapatalk 2

I have updated the zip in the OP... it now creates a proper flashable backup zip as well as teh 2 efs img files.
thanks to @jug6ernaut for testing all of my broken zips :highfive:

In TWRP the zip fails every time..... attached photo of error.
Sent from my VS980 4G using XDA Premium HD app

anyone else have the error that @mouf32 is having? I have some users on IRC that say it's working just fine. And there's been 50+ downloads with no other issues.
@mouf32 have you tried to redownload the file? maybe the zip got messed up or is corrupted?

Changing bluetooth MAC address?

Hi, is it possible to change the bluetooth MAC address somehow?
I tried changing sys\module\htc_bdaddress\parameters\bdaddress. It showed the new address in the settings, but still used the old one. After a reboot it went back to the original one. Does anyone know a way to make a permanent change? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Try using a script in init.d folder in /system/etc/init.d
I use this way to set cpu speeds and the governers even without a cpu controlling app (setcpu, cpu master).
Sent from my HTC Desire Z using xda app-developers app

You can copy with dd your efs partition and make your changes there and use dd to place the new one in, should work but I never tried
Just be sure to keep an orginal
Sent from my Nexus 4 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Thanks for the replies, but I still have a question. Where can I find this efs partition?

/dev/block/mmcblk0p13
/dev/block/mmcblk0p14
You can dd these and edit, be careful using dd commands
Simple way is with adb shell
cd /efs
tar cf /sdcard/efs-backup.tar*
Then make changes but keep copy
Now with new
cd /efs
tar xf /sdcard/efs-backup.tar
Sent from my Nexus 4 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

In adb shell when I type "cd /efs" I get a "No such file or directory" error.
I found this script somewhere else:
adb shell
su
dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk13 of=/sdcard/efs13.rfs
dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk14 of=/sdcard/efs14.rfs
This way I managed to save them, but I'm not sure if this is what I need if I want to edit them. Is there an other way of getting them in .tar format?